The foods we consume, in most cases, are made up of a rather limited variety of substances or structural elements, such as droplets, air cells, grains of different size, crystals, filaments, micelles and interfaces. Therefore, in order to understand correctly the behavior of a food, it is pertinent to know its composition, the way in which the structural elements and their interactions are spatially distributed.

In this sense, the forces of interaction can determine the consistency and physical stability of food products. Unless it is a product that by its nature can be consumed in a heterogeneous way, a good part of food is desired to remain stable and in a single phase. In these cases, homogeneity is a desirable property in products such as:

• Sauces.
• Mayonnaise.
• Nectars, juices and sums.
• Soups.
• Butter and margarines.
• Derivatives of milk products.

How are shaker stirrers used in the food sector?

In the food industry sector, there are a variety of techniques to establish functional properties. For example, rheological measurements can be mentioned to know the mechanical properties and consistency. On the other hand, consumer panels and rheological characterizations are used to measure sensory properties. Similarly, there are others that can be determined visually, such as the stability of the foams.

In this sense, for example, juices, sauces and other foods, it is desired that they remain homogeneous, that is, in a single phase, since this is what pleases the consumer. Therefore, at the time of testing in the laboratory, different mixtures are studied to establish which one provides the greatest stability. Here, a shaker is used to facilitate the mixing of different proportions of components, without the need for the analyst to do this manually and can devote efforts to other activities.

What are the main constituents of foods and how do they mix?

Foods consist mainly of water, air, lipids or fats, protein, and complex sugars or polysaccharides. In general, they may be present in different proportions and require that the product has as homogeneous a composition as possible. These constituents may be present in a specific state of aggregation or dispersion, such as:

• The water can be found in the form of widely dispersed drops.
• Fat, like oil, can be found in widely dispersed oil droplets. Fat may also be in the form of crystals or red blood cells.
• You can also form lattices, strands, and nets.
• Complex sugars and proteins can be found in the form of particles.

When these components are mixed in the right proportions, it is always desirable that they are all distributed equally throughout the product. At this point, it is essential to have mixers, such as shaker shakers, that facilitate this process, which is a mechanical start, to be carried out in a reasonable time, freeing the analyst for other tasks. An optimal mixture of the components, makes them obtain certain functional properties that are attributed to the specific interactions between the different structural elements. These properties are strongly influenced by interactions between:

• The phases are scattered and continuous. This occurs, for example, in fat in protein gels.
• Fat may form continuous networks of crystals, such as in margarine, or globules that are aggregated but weakly interacting, such as in butter.
• Gels of strands or aggregated protein particles.

Why use a shaker from Kalstein to homogenize substances in the food sector?

Kalstein is a laboratory equipment manufacturer that puts food analysts into high-tech instruments, such as shaker stirrers, that meet the highest quality requirements. These instruments have within their most outstanding characteristics, a robust and low noise operation, store agitation programs preloaded and has a starting mode that prevents liquid spatter from occurring. These features and others that can be found in the following link HERE